Structural News

Morristown, N.J. — Louis Berger took top honors in both the design and non-design categories from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Metropolitan Washington (ACEC/MW) at its annual Engineering Excellence Awards dinner. The industry organization honored the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool reconstruction as the top design project and the Washington Monument earthquake repair project, which Louis Berger managed jointly with Hill International, as the top non-design project.

Washington, D.C. — The Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute (CFSEI) will host a webinar on “Back to Basics: A Look at Changes to the North American Cold-Formed Steel Specification and Cold-Formed Steel Framing Standards” on Thursday, February 12, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. ET. This is the fifth webinar in CFSEI’s “Back to Basics” series and is designed for architects, engineers, building officials and contractors. Participants are eligible for 1.5 PDHs.

Phoenix — Rider Levett Bucknall, an international property and construction consultant and industry leader in construction cost research, launched its inaugural edition of the North American RLB Crane Index. The new report measures construction activity in major cities across North America and predicts the health of the U.S. construction industry.

Mt. Vernon, Iowa — The Tilt-Up Concrete Association (TCA) recently announced the winners of the 2014 Tilt-Up Professional Awards. Winners were celebrated during the Tilt-Up Awards Gala during the TCA International Convention.

Sacramento, Calif. — The University of California, Davis Tercero Student Housing Phase 3 facility recently earned LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for its sustainable design features. Sundt Construction, Inc. was the design-build contractor for the dormitory complex, which was completed in fall 2014.

Northbrook, Ill. — UL, a global safety science leader, recently conducted a study to learn where value and return on investment lie in the area of sustainable buildings. The study and its result is available in a free white paper titled “The Dawn of the Building Performance Era,” written by UL Chief Economist Erin Grossi.

Washington, D.C. — The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) joined the Cold-Formed Steel Research Consortium (CFSRC) as a founding member. The CFSRC is a group of principal investigators from several universities who are sharing their experimental and computational facilities to undertake specific projects that span all aspects of cold-formed steel structural research. AISI joins Geometrica in its founding member capacity.

Farmington Hills, Mich. — The American Concrete Institute is offering a series of seminars this year to focus on the newly-released ACI 318-14, Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete and Commentary.

Harrisburg, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation finalized all terms for the department's $899 million Rapid Bridge Replacement Project (RBR), clearing the way for construction to begin this summer on the project to 558 bridges across the state.

Washington, D.C. — Co-sponsors of an international student competition on cold-formed steel design announced three winners from the University of North Texas, Tongji University and the University of Waterloo. The 2014 International Student Competition on Cold-Formed Steel Design promoted higher education in cold-formed steel structural design and encouraged students to use creative thinking skills to solve engineering problems.